


kiss goodnight

by flyingonfeatherlesswings



Category: Doctor Strange (2016)
Genre: Bottom Stephen, Enemy Lovers, Hurt Stephen, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Protective Mordo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-07
Updated: 2018-08-07
Packaged: 2019-06-23 03:44:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15597561
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flyingonfeatherlesswings/pseuds/flyingonfeatherlesswings
Summary: Mordo stumbles upon Stephen Strange while ridding the Earth of some sorcerers and shares a tender night with him.





	kiss goodnight

**Author's Note:**

  * For [old_blue](https://archiveofourown.org/users/old_blue/gifts).



> From a prompt from old_blue!  
> They asked for evil Mordo with bottom Stephen and here we are.

“Wait! You want to get rid of a sorcerer right? How about I give you one and you let me go?”

Karl stilled. his hand still firmly wrapped around the throat of the sorcerer he was holding up against the brick wall. The bodies of his cohorts were strewn around them. They were alive, but when they came to they would be very disappointed to find that any ability they had with performing spells was gone. The little gang they had set up to commit crimes aided by magic would either have to disband or break the law in the usual ways.

Mordo saw the man’s request as a way to rid the world of two sorcerers and so he didn’t hesitate to agree to the man’s offer, throwing him to the ground. “You better be telling the truth, or I will make the extraction _hurt_.”

The sorcerer led Mordo into the warehouse that he and his associates had been working out of and he opened several doors with a simple spell and then they were at what appeared to be an old meat locker. The man pushed the heavy door open and they entered.

In the center  was a large orb taking up most of the room, and Mordo’s eyes widened when he took in what, or who, was inside. There was Stephen Strange, floating in status  within the glowing orb. He was in street clothes, his ever loyal Cloak absent, and he was unconscious. His eye was blue and swollen, he had a cut on his lip, and there were angry red lines around his neck where someone had attempted to strangle him.

Mordo approached the orb, laying a hand upon it. The spell created a solid barrier around Stephen and Mordo was almost impressed with the group he had so easily defeated.

“He’s this sorcerer that lives in this weird big house up in the Village,” said the man. “We had been watching him and one day he went out for groceries and we caught him unawares.”

“Did you now?” said Mordo, eyes running up and down Stephen’s injured body.

“Yeah he had stopped a few of our plans in the past. But this time we grabbed this woman and her baby from the Park and he was too busy trying to save them once we had captured him, he was distracted and we hit him with a spell that made him paralyzed. Our boss roughed him up a bit before putting him in here. We were going to torture him a bit more, then maybe kill him. But look he’s pretty powerful, it took all of us working together to trap him! Take his magic instead.”

Mordo’s eyes hadn’t left Stephen since he had entered the room. This was not how he had imagined his reunion with Strange. He thought he would be facing down the other sorcerer in a battle of sorts. He thought maybe he would come for Strange’s magic. Mordo thought they would be equals, not with a Strange in such a pitiful state.

The feeling that welled up in Mordo’s chest puzzled him. He could do as the other sorcerer said, take Stephen’s magic and leave him there. But as Mordo looked at the bruises that littered on Stephen’s face and neck, Mordo felt no triumph, no determination. He remembered stroking a thumb along those lips, laying kisses on the back of that neck. The fact that these charlatans had thought they had the right to touch those places too only made him feel one thing.

_Rage._

“So we gotta a deal man?” asked the criminal, uncomfortably shifting on his feet and looking to the door.

Mordo still didn’t turn to look at the man as he slipped a hand into his jacket and flung an item in his direction. The sorcerer didn’t have time to run or react at all and a knife buried itself in his chest. He could only let out a moan and crumble to the floor.

That taken care of, Mordo placed his hands on the orb and they started to glow. The surface started to slinter and crack and then suddenly the whole thing shattered into sparks of light. Stephen started to fall to the ground but Mordo lunged forward and caught him. He stood up straight again, heaving Stephen up into a better hold and making sure he was still unconscious. Stephen’s head lolled on Mordo’s shoulder.

Mordo then walked out of the room, not sparing a glance for the man laying in an ever-growing puddle of blood.

xxx

Stephen Strange was cold when he awoke, which wasn’t a sensation that he was used to. The Sanctum was magically heated, and his bed was covered with a thick quilt. But when he cracked open his eyes, he found that he wasn’t in the Sanctum.

He was in some abandoned-looking space, in a large room with a window along one wall that was missing some glass panes. There was old office furniture and other miscellaneous items gathered up against the far wall. Stephen was laying on a bare mattress, a ratty old knitted throw covering him.

Stephen thought that he was still being held captive by the sec of sorcerers he had fought when a voice broke the silence. “You’re awake. Good. Are you thirsty?”

Stephen looked towards the familiar voice, and there was Karl Mordo, sitting against a wall, hidden in the shadows. Stephen had heard what Mordo had been doing nowadays, and he had tried to hunt him down a few times, but Mordo was very good at covering his tracks. He knew this wasn’t a happy reunion with an old friend.

“What happened?” asked Stephen, his voice terribly hoarse. He struggled to sit up on the mattress and Mordo stood up and walked over, handing him a bottle of water. Stephen eyed it suspiciously and Mordo scoffed, “I wouldn’t poison you, Strange. If I had wanted you dead I would’ve done it by now.”

Stephen took the water, and opened it, wincing at the strain that was put on his hands. “Did they hurt your hands?” asked Mordo.

Stephen shook his head, “No, just threatened to.”

“I for one am disappointed in you Strange, getting taken by such a fringe group with no formal training. I feel as if I failed as a teacher,” said Mordo.

Stephen’s eyes fell to his hands folded in his lap, “I saved that woman and her baby though. That’s all that matters.”

“You can save more people if you aren’t dead,” snapped Mordo.

“And I can save even more if you don’t take my magic.”

“What?”

Stephen’s eyes shot up, “Isn’t that what this is about? You saved me from that group so you could do the honors of taking my magic away from me. I’m the one who made you like this, and hasn’t my bill come? Isn’t it due?”

“No, Strange. Not today. Not like this. When I face you, I want you to be at your best,” said Mordo.

“Then why did you save me?” asked Stephen.

Mordo looked away, “Sentiment for the past I suppose.”

“Then you don’t…”

“Don’t what?”

“Hate...me?”

Stephen’s words were so tentative and unsure coupled with the remaining hoarseness his attempted strangulation had caused. The sight made Mordo’s heart pound in his ears.

“No, Strange. No, I don’t hate you.”

“Stephen.”

“What?”

“Please, Karl. Call me Stephen. You’ve...been _inside_ me. You can call me Stephen.”

“Okay, Stephen,” said Mordo.

“There’s nothing I can do to convince you to turn away from this path and come back to us?” asked Stephen.

“No. I must make my own path, the Ancient One bestowed too many people with gifts they could not possibly know how to use,” said Mordo.

“I’m pretty grateful for her.”

“Of course you are,” said Mordo in a flat tone.

“Without her helping Pangborn, I wouldn’t have met you,” said Stephen.

Mordo’s mouth shut in a firm line, not expecting Stephen to still feel so much tenderness for him.

Stephen shivered and then scooted over on the mattress, “Karl, do you intend to just let me go after tonight?”

“That was the plan.”

“Then come here,” said Stephen patting the space next to him, ”Lay next to me, just for a little while. And let me be close to you. We don’t have to talk about _business.”_

Mordo was hesitant, but he had been alone for so long, and his instinctive need for human company won out and he walked over and sat down on the mattress.

Stephen laid back down and reached out a hand to hold Mordo’s. “I miss you,” whispered Stephen. Mordo simply watched the sorcerer beside him, his large brown eyes hooded.

Mordo then laid down next to Stephen on his side, and Stephen moved so they were facing each other. His hand was still in Mordo’s. Mordo used his other hand to lightly stroke the cut on Stephen’s lip before moving down and running his fingertips over the angry bruises around his neck. Stephen gasped at the touch and Mordo snatched his hand away.

“Did they hurt you greatly?” asked Mordo.

“I’ve had worse. Did you kill them?”

“Only you would be concerned for your captors who strangled you,” said Mordo in an almost-sneer.

“Karl,” admonished Stephen.

Mordo’s face fell, and he held Stephen’s hand close to his chest, “Only the one that tried to trade you for his magic. I was overcome with….I didn’t like seeing you like that.”

“You are a big ole softie under all that muscle,” said Stephen, poking a finger out of their conjoined hands and using it to stroke along Mordo’s chest.

“You approve of me murdering a man?”

“Oh no, but I’m really tired Karl, and I’m tired of passing along judgements. And I miss you. I don’t want to distance you right now. I don’t want us to lie here and talk about your differences,” said Stephen.

“Then what do you want to do?” asked Mordo.

Stephen’s eyes connected with Mordo’s and Karl Mordo was taken aback by how beautiful they still looked. They were bloodshot and one was terribly swollen, but one was colorness as it was hit by the moonlight streaming in the window, the other glowed dark blue in the shadow. “I’m cold,” answered Stephen.

“Should I do a spell to warm the--”

“Make love to me.”

“What?” Karl Mordo was rarely caught unaware but this was not a request that Mordo could’ve predicted.

“We never got to take it slow, just enjoy each other’s company. It was always so hard and fast. Remember that one time in the library? In the baths? I want you to make love to me, and then…”

“And what?” asked Mordo.

“I can say goodbye.”

Tears almost sprang to Mordo’s eyes but he reached forward and dragged Stephen closer and their lips met, kissing like they had never stopped. Stephen pushed Mordo onto his back and crawled over the other man to straddle him. Stephen sat up and peeled off his shirt, throwing it away from him. Mordo took in the other bruises that had been hiding beneath the shirt, and as Stephen came forward to kiss Mordo’s neck, Mordo whispered, “You’re hurt, I don’t want to cause you further pain.”

Stephen pulled away, his face hovering over Mordo’s, “You will. But not tonight, don’t worry.” He then recaptured Mordo’s mouth against his.

It was like falling back into an old routine, their touches were so well practiced and sure. They were happy to draw out their time together. Touches that had one been desperate, became feather soft. And when Mordo slipped into Stephen, he did not feel the need to pound into him like he had done at Kamar-Taj. Instead he moved together with his lover, Stephen’s large hands spread out over his back.

Afterward, he laid there on that dirty mattress, with Stephen laying against his chest. “Karl--” Stephen began but Mordo shushed him. Stephen dozed off, his exhaustion winning out and Mordo placed a kiss on his forehead.

When Stephen next awoke, he’d find himself in his bed at the Sanctum, with no evidence of his night with Karl, not even a pleasant soreness. Stephen needed to get up and find Wong, make sure he knew he was safe. He laid in the bed though, staring up at the canopy, remembering soft smiles and the feeling Mordo’s mouth against his for just a little longer.


End file.
